Integral Role in Shaping the Level and Magnitude of Prostitution in the Philippines - Annotated Bibliography Example

Does dismal economic opportunities and political empowerment among women in the Philippines play an integral role inshaping the level and magnitude of prostitution in the country? Introduction According to a report by the World Economic forum on Global Gender Gap (2014), Philippines ranks at position nine, having slumped down four places. However, the country remains the top performer in the Asia Pacific, having managed to retain its top position on health and education indicators. The country also slumped to 24th position under the economic participation indicator and 17th under the political indicator, with all the ranking made out of 142 countries of the world. Of much interest to this paper though is the resource and equitable opportunity distribution disparity under both economic and political indicators between women and men, which assesses the overall performance irrespective of the overall income. The country still suffers from disparity in economic inclusion, leaving women and in some cases children exposed to such practices as prostitution as a means of generating income. The recent results by the WEF Gender Gap report of 2014 indicates that Philippines retained the top position in the gender equality game in Asia, having fully closed the gender gap in both health and education. However, the report shows that a lot needs to be done concerning labor force participation rate and political empowerment. The latter two aspects being crucial to social practices of the society play an integral role in determining the wellbeing of the society as well as in tackling such detrimental practices as prostitution. Seemingly, financial constraint among a vast majority of the female population of the country is a causal factor to the proliferation of prostitution. Even with equity in education opportunities, the female population faces greater challenges in terms of securing of employment opportunities as indicated by the low job participation rate of 59 percent against 93 percent in males. Faced with limited financial ability, the women turn to prostitution as a means of earning some income. Poverty is also another factor that seems to contribute to high cases of child and women prostitution. In addition, while women education has significantly contributed to empowerment of women, political empowerment of women remains a dream yet to be achieved. This is because even with education and subsequently the capability to secure well-paying job opportunities the odds of intergenerational transfers subject them to economic pressures, curtailing their quests for elective posts. This paper therefore attempts to explore how dismal economic opportunities and political empowerment among women in the Philippines play an integral role in shaping the level and magnitude of prostitution in the country. To this end, eight sources of data have been identified and for which a brief insight follows hereunder. Annotated Bibliography Bloom, Greg. Philippines. Footscray, Vic: Lonely Planet, 2012. Internet resource. In This paper, Bloom (2012) identifies prostitution and sex tourism as prominent social problems in Philippines and in extension the entire South Asia region. He notes that about 400000 men and women engage in prostitution, out of which 20 percent are children, a rather staggering figure. He also points that majority of individuals involved come from impoverished provincial families who fall prey to the girly bars, thereby exposing the country’s shortcoming with regards to creation of sources of income, especially for women. The proliferation of prostitution and child sex trade in the country, according to Bloom shows the failure of government interventions put in place to curb the situation. Clarke, Gerard. Civil Society in the Philippines: Theoretical, Methodological and Policy Debates. (2013). London, Routledge. In this publication, the author delves into understanding the life of a Philippines woman and notes the lack of political good will of the moderately patriarchal society that has always tended to prefer men leaders to female leaders. The effect of this practice according to Clarke (2013, 179) is an extensive presence of conservative individual whose only objective is to maintain the status quo. This implies that most reformative legislations fail to get the approval of the leadership, especially regarding issues that would see a transformation in women roles across the country. Such, as noted by Clarke (179), was the trend in 1998 where the Estrada administration labeled progressive NGOs and social movements that seemed to support the emancipation of women in the country as friends of the poor, and subsequently limited their operations. It took the country an intense anti-government protest for the then government to step down, with the incoming leadership keen on allowing and extending participation of broader spectrum of secondary associations. This transition would then form the benchmark for some of the integral transformations whose results currently the country enjoys in the form of e.g. gender equity in education among others. Dannefer, Dale, and Chris Phillipson. The Sage Handbook of Social Gerontology. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2010. Internet resource. In this paper, Danneffer, Dale and Chris (2010, 441) observe that women workers especially in the informal sector face heavy discrimination in accessing credit, benefits and opportunities that could spur significant improvement in their lives, in addition to having a lower rate of economic participation 59 percent compared to 93 percent for their male compatriots. Further, most women in the country have their roles limited to domestic duties, thus limiting their scope of knowledge and opportunities. This limitation exposes women to poverty, which in turn drives them to prostitution. The researchers thus show the extent to which the situation defies even the recent campaigns against women marginalization by a number of right groups that include women organizations, international organizations, and government institutions, among others. Foeken, Dick, D Foeken, Ton Dietz, Leo . Haan, and Linda Johnson. Development and Equity: An Interdisciplinary Exploration by Ten Scholars from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Boston: Brill, 2014. Internet resource. Foeken et al. (2014, 161) explores the extent to which achievement of equity in education among gender in the country has enabled upward economic and political mobility of the female population. He however notes that while the major objective of educating women in Philippines was to improve their marriage market outcomes, the result, which has favored this objective too, has seen the rise of more women to administrative posts, both elective and merit. Even though this practice helps strengthen the womenfolk, the burden of intergenerational transfers from such women to their parents most often leave them with little finance to spend on such adventures as politics. This could be the explanation of the small proportion of women taking political adventures in the recent past even in an era of education equity. Roces, Mina & Edwards, Louise. Womens Movements in Asia: Feminisms and Transnational Activism. London, Routtledge. Print. (2010). In this publication, Roces and Edwards (2010) observe that the last few decades witnessed a shift in the language of women empowerment from being a self-help undertaking to a new order of understanding the concept of citizenship as being active participation of every individual regardless of gender, on economic development, both of self an of the country. They note that this shift in language and strategies of development is an indicator of the ‘outcome of growing ascendance of influence of neoliberal-led developmentalism’ characterized by a merger between the two schools of thought of neoliberal discourse and empowerment in relation to self-improvement thereby articulating a new sense of understanding citizenship. They note that the good results so far realized notwithstanding, much need to be done in order to address cases of prostitution and other gender discriminants so that South Asian countries may achieve full gender equality. Takhar, Shaminder. Gender, Ethnicity and Political Agency: South Asian Women Organizing. London, Routledge. (2013). In this paper, Takhar (2013,1) explores the double perception of South Asian woman as being ‘passive and politically active’ thus presenting a challenge on how political urgency is understood. Characteristic of this perception, as Takhar points, is a paradoxical representation of women as stereotypes and in leadership positions. The author thus explores the manner in which the South Asian woman responds to such oppressive discourses as sexism and racism. The author thus provides an in depth analysis of role women in social change with key interest on education, marriage and sexuality. Tan, Michael L. Women in Philippine politics. Asia News Network. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.asianewsnet.net/Women-in-Philippine-politics-51279.html In this article, Tan (2013) observes that in a country where the number of women almost equals that of men, an equitable situation in politics would be one where the ratio of occupancy of elective posts is one to one. However, he observes that this is not the case since in 1998, women occupied only 16.2 percent of elective posts, a figure that has shown little, if any growth over the years, and currently stands at 18.4 percent. Grim as the picture may be, the pertinent questions remains whether this low proportions are due to lack of interest in politics on the side of women, or the presence of suppressive factors such as economic challenges and rife in social issues that deter them from embarking on such ventures. This necessitates for institutional advancements discourse to better the lives of women globally. Noteworthy is that the primordial objective of such undertakings should be to advance women’s rights in multiples contexts through inclusion, both economically and politically. Visvanathan, Nalini, Lynn Duggan, Laurie Nisonoff, and Nancy Wiegersma. The Women, Gender and Development Reader. New Delhi: Zubaan, 2001. Print. In this paper, Visvanathan et al. (2001, 54-55) explore the current political gender stratification of the country and explores a number of options that have the potential of delivering greater improvement in the state of women in the country. To this end, the authors posit that in order to extend the trend of women participation in politics further, the rationale for getting more women into politics to reshape the public policies ought to be quite comprehensive and immune from conservative influences. These could substantially encourage women to push not only for more elective posts, but also for women-friendly public policies such as reformation of the electoral system. Of greater concern is the likelihood of women turning up for voting with their children left at home, something that has always prevented a number of them from even registering as voters, leave alone voting. Works Cited Bloom, Greg. Philippines. Footscray, Vic: Lonely Planet, 2012. Internet resource. Clarke, Gerard. Civil Society in the Philippines: Theoretical, Methodological and Policy Debates. (2013). London, Routledge. Dannefer, Dale, and Chris Phillipson. The Sage Handbook of Social Gerontology. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2010. Internet resource. Foeken, Dick, D Foeken, Ton Dietz, Leo . Haan, and Linda Johnson. Development and Equity: An Interdisciplinary Exploration by Ten Scholars from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Boston: Brill, 2014. Internet resource. Roces, Mina & Edwards, Louise. Womens Movements in Asia: Feminisms and Transnational Activism. London, Routtledge. Print. (2010). Takhar, Shaminder. Gender, Ethnicity and Political Agency: South Asian Women Organizing. London, Routledge. (2013). Tan, Michael L. Women in Philippine politics. Asia News Network. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.asianewsnet.net/Women-in-Philippine-politics-51279.html Visvanathan, Nalini, Lynn Duggan, Laurie Nisonoff, and Nancy Wiegersma. The Women, Gender and Development Reader. New Delhi: Zubaan, 2001. Print. World Economic Forum. The Global Gender Gap Report, 2014. Retrieved from http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2014/ Read More